“At this point, we are officially in talks with Spike Lee’s camp. They have expressed the desire to settle this in a good faith manner,” the McClains’ attorney, Matt Morgan, said in a telephone interview Thursday morning.

Morgan said his clients “have very reasonable demands and I believe Spike Lee will meet them.”

And if he doesn’t, I’m sure Mr. Morgan has explained to Lee just how friendly juries can be toward innocent elderly folks menaced by an angry mob. The McClains do not appear to want to drive Lee into the poor house. Indeed, they seem to want to impart on him and others watching this story the very lesson Lee purports to impress on the nation with his antics: that race relations need not escalate to courtrooms and violence and that reasonable people can work out their differences reasonably.

UPDATE: Acording to the McClains’ lawyer, they have reached a settlement with Spike Lee. He apologized to them personally and will compensate them for”their loss and the disruption to their lives”. We hope they can now live in peace.